Jamesatgsu

If not taking advantage of the offer, seems like you'd do the cheaper bare bones rate or book Carnival/MSC/RCL.

As long as you don't need it on 2 devices at the exact same time, it isn't an issue. 

9 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

 

This is not the norm.  Athens has had tons of cruise capacity dumped on it as a homeport for summer 2021 at the same time the airlines still had significantly reduced capacity from the US to Europe. Seats are scare and fares are high. NCL is booking what they can get.  In normal times ATL to Europe (in this case Athens) would have been no more than 1 stop. 

I do wonder if we hadn't changed to arrive earlier if the flight would have been a single stop.

4 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Normally that's not possible to do because every seat normally has a cost.

On my Austrian Airlines seats, when I pick a regular seat it wants to charge me $260, but if I choose a seat with extra legroom it charges $30. Isn't that crazy? 

We are flying Atlanta - Chicago - Vienna - Athens. So that kind of sucks (each layover is just under 2 hours), but that was after we asked to fly in 2 days early. We are on Austrian Airlines. They have upgrade options that uses a bidding system like NCL. 

On the way back it is Air Canada with connection in Toronto. I haven't checked out those flights yet. 

Hard to say for sure. So much of it comes down to opportunity cost.  If it doesn't change your onboard spending at all, it is costing them dollar for dollar as you would have spent that money anyway. If it entices you to spend money you wouldn't have, it is easy money for them. That is why NCL's Shore Excursion credit is so brilliant. It gets you to book an excursion that you very well may not have. Similar to the discounts Carnival will give for booking multiple at once.

You also have to consider that most things cost more onboard, so there is a built in cost to using OBC instead of buying in advance.

I'm on the same cruise and haven't been overly worried about it. Keep hoping US will update to allow vaccinated passengers regardless, but we do move slow.

Other big concern is connecting flights. I have to worry about Austria and Canada's rules because I have connections in those countries.

Right now looks like I don't need to do anything for Canada, but Austria will require vaccination and health assessment. Neither of which is a problem as of now.

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

In my opinion, a huge waste of money to get in your room 2 hours early. You can list everything it comes with, but let's be real why people buy it. Even a bigger waste of money if you are arriving when the rooms are already available.

 

I keep reading how it's a splurge, but I have an even better one for ya. Put that money towards staying near the port the night before. The vacation starts a day early instead of 2 hours. Enjoy the town, beach (if there is one), lay by the pool, relax. While it may cost a little more, I would easily say it's way more bang for your buck. The next morning will also be infinitely more enjoyable vs trying to rush to the port and risking any delays. It's a night and day difference. With my hotel loyalty status, I am almost always guaranteed a 12 or 1pm checkout. I never think twice about rushing to the ship.

Why not do both? I always do.

I always want to get on the ship as early as possible. On a couple of occasions I did not receive an early boarding time when I checked-in, so was glad to have FTTF so it didn't matter. Having access to the room and getting my luggage earlier are something I value highly. The priority customer service and priority tendering are things I never valued, until I needed them. It has saved me hours of standing in line. I even just enjoy having my room key rather than boarding pass for those couple of hours.

You make it clear you aren't concerned with getting onboard early, which means you aren't going to get the same level of value as me. I want to eat lunch and explore the ship while it still isn't as crowded (just avoid the elevators). When I have Cheers it means free drinks (granted there is tax in port). Some ships have happy hour early on which is great if you don't have the package.

I've paid for it regardless of cost (only not having it for one cruise because sold out and never became available to me), but it is a much easier choice when it is $60 vs when it is $120. 

On 5/30/2021 at 12:26 PM, edgeman61 said:

We had FTTF on our Carnival Freedom Cruise (Dec 2019) all it did was get us on board earlier and to the buffet before the crowds built up.  Our room was not accessible any earlier.

 

IMHO, for a later arrival to the pier its not worth the $$.

It should have. We've been told the rooms were closed before and then mentioned FTTF and were allowed to the rooms. If you don't get early access and you let customer service know they will refund it.

Only one time was our room not ready with it, but we were on the ship before 11, and the room was ready at 11. 

On 5/31/2021 at 8:38 AM, phoneman69 said:

Why should they charge. Should be an attraction that draws you to the ship for sailing

Because they can? Personally would have been stunned for it to be free (the demand would make the lines awful).

$5-$10 per ride would make sense. They could of course make it similar to the thermal suite and charge you $100 for unlimited use during the cruise.

8 minutes ago, classy_cruiser said:

Thank you so much! I'm dreading the flight itinerary. The chance of missing the cruise with all those connections seems very high. 

Yeah, I definitely didn't want to fly in the day of the cruise like originally scheduled just in case.

49 minutes ago, classy_cruiser said:

If we do the flight deviation and arrive 2 days earlier in Athens, Greece, does that automatically reduce the transfer fee? I spoke to someone on the phone who said we would get a $25 credit towards the booking for the requesting the deviation. Maybe this is because we would no longer need transport from the airport to the pier? Do we also need to request the transfer fee to be updated? Not sure how that works if we don't want the transfer on the way in but we do want it on the way out. Or should we just request for it to be removed completely and take the bus from the pier to the airport on the way back?

Yes, the reduced our transfer fee from $150 to $75 and gave us a $25 credit. All happened upon switching our flights to 2 days early. We just received our flight information last week for our July 25th cruise. We have 2 layovers on the way over (each just under 2 hours), and one on the way back.

On 5/18/2021 at 9:22 AM, sassy~one said:

Hi there, on my next sailing I have the cheers package.  Not much of a drinker, but I do have some questions.

Do I get a sticker or something?  Can I get a soda and a bottle of water at the same time?  Is the tip already included in the price of the cheers?

I also have never followed the 'bar open' info, so is there always a bar open?  Any input would be great, thanks. 

I've never had a problem ordering water and another drink at the same time with cheers. 

7 hours ago, DAllenTCY said:

I don't think that luggage to your room has any priority with FTTF.....at least not much.  By the time you arrive at 2 pm, almost everything will be either onboard or in the queue for delivery by deck.

 

 

David

 

 

The one time I didn't have it, I didn't get my luggage until 10pm. With it, I've always had it fairly early. That is why our luggage tags show FTTF on them. 

Just now, asalligo said:

We tried this twice in our lives, but it just always built to the point of not being able to pay it off monthly. So we had to go cold turkey personally. I only use credit cards enough now to keep the accounts active for my credit rating.  

While I've always been able to pay off my credit card every month my entire life, I have little doubt I'm spending substantially more by using a credit card than I would if I didn't have one. I used to be really good about it when I was younger and income was lower, but now days I'm irresponsible in comparison. 

7 minutes ago, TNcruising02 said:

You could always cancel your cruise for a full refund and book on a different cruise line.

If it were so simple. It can be so hard to book a comparable cruise without spending significantly more money and I think most of us are really anxious after not cruising for so long.

We'll see what happens. Still 5 months until their cruise and hopefully more people will continue to get vaccinated. Hopefully the port countries will have wide access to the vaccine. And of course most importantly that life can be somewhat normal again.

12 hours ago, skywonder said:

He will not back down, he is letting people have options and choices which is a good thing. He already talked about this more then once on the local news, and many of us that live in Florida appreciate it and agree with his decision, not all the people of course but most I have spoken too do agree. The more choices the better for everyone to feel safe in their personal decision.

This is the opposite of options. This is big government controlling private companies. 

On 5/23/2021 at 11:32 PM, Joe817 said:

No kidding? Damn. I wish you wouldn't have said that. I love beer, and they have a Red Frog Pub & Brewery on the Vista. Thanks......I think. I'll have to check that out. 

I know it was true of the Magic. I researched happy hour pretty heavily for my cruise that was ultimately cancelled. IIRC, they were actually offering it every day according to a YouTube review I watched. My plan was to buy and store in my room instead of getting drink package. This is definitely not true for most ships. On the one cruise that I recall a happy hour on, it was just the Casino bar on like 3 or 4 drinks, and it was only until like 2 on embarkation day. That was the Carnival Victory, which has since been rebranded.

3 hours ago, quattrohead said:

We won't get to do both, choose vax or mask.

Once out on the open waters, every man for himself.

And this is the reality. Much like store's that requires masks always had people ignore it. Go anywhere right now and the vaccinated are more likely to be wearing masks. If that results in masks being required, the vaccinated will be the ones following the rules and the non - vaxxed won't. I don't expect much in the way of enforcement. 

Just wish everyone would get vaxxed, but it is what is. I'll be on 100% vaccinated cruise in July, and then we'll see what happens on my Mardi Gras cruise in November. I'm sail either way, and accept the restrictions if they are there, but I sure hope they don't exist, at least when we aren't in crowds. 

More than anything, to explore the ship. It will be the biggest ship we've ever been on, and especially compared to the Fantasy Class ships.

179 days out. November 20, 2021

26 minutes ago, Beaver1975 said:

 My sister was head of HR for a major restaurant food supplier and they were absolutely limited on what they could ask  employees, and applicants, about their health issues because of HIPAA laws. 

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals/guidance-materials-for-consumers/index.html

Who Is Not Required to Follow These Laws

Many organizations that have health information about you do not have to follow these laws.

Examples of organizations that do not have to follow the Privacy and Security Rules include:

• Life insurers
• Employers

On 5/24/2021 at 11:47 AM, wemjam said:

MIGHT end up on the inaugural sailing by happenstance... Booked for Sept 4th

As cool as it would be to be on an inaugural sailing, I'm eager for it to start sailing so I don't get stressed about my November cruise happening.

3 minutes ago, Lee Cruiser said:

We went to one of the future cruise information presentations on one of our first cruises out of Galveston. This was in the month of April.  The lady shared that anytime school was out was considered higher season rates.  She gave us some numbers.  She shared that the week of our cruise there were just over 300 passengers out of around 3,000 under the age of 18.  The week prior was one of those higher season weeks during spring break.  On that particular cruise there were 1,000 out of 3,000 under the age of 18.  While those were numbers during "normal" times, even during the smaller weeks 10% of the passengers were under 18.

Those are higher numbers than I would have guessed given when I've been to the kids clubs or just seen walking on board. Lots of them will be in that 12-18 group that can get vaccinated, but even if that were half of the kids, that would still be at 5%. Doesn't sound good for letting younger kids cruise under the 95% rule.

3 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

I think it would all depend upon the time of year.  Over the summer as well as school breaks, then the 5% could easily be surpassed by those 11 and under.  You also have to factor in the unvaccinated adults into the 5% as well.  Of course they could just lie if there was no true way of validating whether they actually got the jab or not if they provide fake cards.  I certainly would not put that past a certain percentage of Carnival cruisers.

If they went the 95% route I think they'd have to require it for 12 & above. I'd bet kids under 12 make up less than 5%, but how they could guarantee it would be a mystery. I expect Pfizer will get the approval in time for my 11 year old to get it as well. If/When they get approval of 2-11, 95% should be a non-issue as banning under 2 or just accepting them in that 5% should be easy.

Carnival Dream - August 2017 - 9th Anniversary, thought the actual reason was my best friend was having his bachelor party on a cruise in October and my wife was none to happy about me going on a cruise before she had been on one.